This forum guide was developed to meet the need for common, widely understood, standardized course codes. The purpose of this guide is to introduce the voluntary School Courses for the Exchange of Data (SCED) classification system, including information on the structure of SCED codes, the process for ensuring that SCED remains up to date and accurate, and the benefits of SCED use. The guide is intended for both new and existing SCED users and contains best practices for implementing and expanding the use of SCED. This guide is intended to address the needs of SCED users by providing: (1) an overview of the SCED development process; (2) a framework for coding elementary through high school courses; and (3) best practices for SCED implementation and use.